Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image evaluation apparatus, image evaluation method and recording medium storing an image evaluation program.
Description of the Related Art
In conventional image evaluation, information such as number, sizes and positions of faces has a great influence upon image score, and images in which faces often appear tend to have a high score. An image in which a face does not appear or one in which a face appears but is small in size, as well as an image such as one that is a scenic image, will tend not to have a high score. In a case where images having a high score are selected from among a number of images and an electronic album or the like is generated, the electronic album to be generated will have many images in which faces appear because the selection is made from images having high scores. In a case where image layout editing is performed, therefore, there is a system in which desired unused images are selected from among a large quantity of unused images (Patent Document 1), a system in which images that do not deviate with regard to image content and attributes are selected (Patent Document 2), and a system for calculating specificity, which indicates the photographic condition of an object, and likelihood, which indicates the degree of certainty of the photographer of a picture, and then utilizes this specificity and degree of certainty to calculate the importance of the image (Patent Document 3).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-199641
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-222304
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent No. 5727476
According to the description rendered in Patent Document 1, the selection of images becomes one-sided because the evaluation values of images preferred by the user are high. Further, according to the description rendered in Patent Document 2, it is difficult for the same subject to be selected owing to a rise in the point score of an image that differs from an image once selected. Furthermore, according to the description rendered in Patent Document 3, since the degree of certainty of the photographer of a picture utilized, it is difficult to make a selection with regard to a picture taken by a different photographer. None of these disclosures consider a system adapted so as to select scenic images and still-life images without being biased toward images that include faces in a case where an image is selected from among a plurality of images.